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It’s not chemistry between Tinka Foster and Sam Anderson that made them agree to fake date. With her parents trying to set her up with an annoying student golf coach, and intentionally single Sam’s family pressuring him to bring a date to his brother’s wedding, they could both use a drama-free summer.

So it’s not his muscular arms and quick wit that makes Tinka suggest they tell everyone they’re both taken. Definitely not. And it’s not butterflies that makes a kiss for appearances during the lake party go on way too long—so long that Sam wishes it were real.

But Tinka keeps people at arm’s length—she’s always been second best, even to her parents. And her relationship-for-show could crush everything when she realizes she’s done with fake, pretend, and second-best.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains bikinis at the lake, a lot of making out in dark theaters, and a meet-cute you’ll read twice.

I feel like I’m on a contemporary roll at the moment. After zooming through Falling for Forever the other day, I finished Artificial Sweethearts within 24 hours, too, despite being busy with travelling and interview prep. It was a very easy read with one of my favourite tropes: the fake relationship.

Two quick notes:

This is the second book in a series but can be read as a standalone, with a brief reference to the couple from the previous book.

I read another of Hammerle’s books – The Sound of Us – last year and really enjoyed it, so the bar was high for this one.

In this instance of the fake relationship trope, Tinka and Sam find themselves under fire from their respective families to date, each being set up in some way with people who are simply not right for them. Sam uses the mystery new neighbour girl as an out when a local girl makes a move on him, and following his example, Tinka continues the act in an attempt to get out of spending time with her parents’ friends’ college student son. But as you would imagine, the chemistry between the two blurs the lines, especially after a certain kiss.

I’m not sure how I felt about Tinka. In many ways, I could relate to her. I think most people try to live up to expectations from their parents, it’s just she has extra reason to. I could see why people would dislike her because she wasn’t perfect at all, but I could honestly see bits of myself at that age in her. Nobody’s perfect. As for Sam, he was a doll. He was just cute and dorky and lovely. I liked that he was a movie geek, though I wished there was more to him than that (same with Tinka and baking). Of the two POVs, his was the one I loved the most; there was so much drama in Tinka’s. (PS, I don’t like the cover because the models don’t match the characters!)

While their chemistry was torturous to read (both thought the other was truly faking GAH), it could have done with a little less telling and a bit more showing. I feel like there was a lot of “we did this, then we talked about that, and there was electricity.” I also don’t think the problems with Karen and Jane were ever actually dealt with. After all the build-up, I would have liked a bit more conversation to that. Instead, it was like it all got swept under the carpet during the Unrelated Crisis To Solve Everything. These were the reasons I couldn’t quite all out love it.

In the end, it did keep me coming back for more when I should have been doing work, so I can say with confidence that it was easy, interesting, satisfying, and cute to read!

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